On Thursday morning, the House Armed Services Committee passed the 2013 version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA); the provision providing for the indefinite detention of Americans remains in the bill.

No one ever accused Jeremy Bentham of thinking small. The early 18th-century British philosopher, social reformer, and co-founder of the celebrated philosophical school of Utilitarianism, Bentham was known for his unconventional ideas. Like many self-styled progressive thinkers of his age, Bentham expended a considerable amount of energy dreaming up new ways to use the power of the state to protect private citizens from their own alleged follies.

Texas inmate Keith Judd took 40 percent of the vote — to President Obama's 60 percent — in West Virginia's Democratic primary, as Democrats in that state use the primary to issue a protest against the Obama administration's anti-coal policies.